Jersey City BOE approves proposed $736 million budget

The Jersey City Board of Education approved its proposed $736 million budget during an emergency meeting Friday, sending the ambitious spending plan to the county superintendent of schools.

The 2020-2021 budget, which includes more than $66 million in additional funding from last year’s spending plan, was approved after many members of the public called on the board to approve the budget during the public comment portion.

Nancy Pokler, a parent and member of Jersey City Together, said the budget prepared by Superintendent Franklin Walker addresses the children’s needs.

“We believe that Mr. Walker can lead us to success, but he can’t do it without a budget that values our schools,” Pokler added. “We are facing unprecedented times, and our schools must be prepared for what comes next.

“In order to be prepared, they need to be funded. If they are not funded, they are not prepared.”

The plan was approved 8-1, with Trustee Alexander Hamilton as the only dissenting vote.

The BOE proposed a colossal $736 million budget for the 2020-2021 school year on Wednesday, the spending plan could increase the average tax bill by almost $700 next year.

The budget, which grew by $66 million from a year ago, calls for a 47% hike to the school tax levy from $136 million to $200 million. The tax increase means the owner of an average home assessed at $452,000 would see their school taxes increase by $688 next year.

Property taxes are composed of municipal, county, and school taxes.

The majority of those who spoke during the meeting’s public comment continued to support Walker and the budget he proposed. Some also took time to bash Mayor Steve Fulop’s recent comments — he called the proposed budget “really irresponsible" on Thursday.

The spending plan would also add 107 full-time positions to the school district, more than half of the new hires being devoted to math and language arts support.

New Jersey’s second largest school district is facing an estimated $150 million budget deficit, due in large part to a state funding change that will cut $55 million from the schools next year. By that time, the district will have lost $120 million in state funding since 2019.

The board had until Friday to submit its budget to the county superintendent and had to have an emergency meeting to meet the deadline.

The budget must be submitted to the county by Friday for review and approval. It will then return to the board, which will to continue to make necessary changes until board members are ready to finalize and submit the plan to the state in May.

Citing the current coronavirus pandemic and its unseen economic toll, Hamilton said the board should delay its vote and suffer whatever consequences the district may face for missing the deadline.

“I don’t care about the county and the state right now," Hamilton said. "They can come arrest me.”

The board was hoping for a deadline extension from the state, but Walker said he had reached out to the state and has yet to get a response back.

“If it happens, it will happen after the fact,” Walker said Friday morning. “I haven’t heard anything in reference to it … As of now, the deadline for the budget remains the same."

The budget does not appear to include any of the measures suggested in the school funding plan that Mayor Steve Fulop proposed last month. Fulop’s plan called for the school board to make $45 million in cuts and increase the school tax levy by $25 million each year in the next three years.

Fulop called the board’s plan to increase spending during the coronavirus pandemic is “tone-deaf” and the struggle people are experiencing because of the pandemic may take a couple months before it get’s easier.

“They’re going to destroy the taxpayers. They’re going to destroy residents, both renters and homeowners," Fulop said Thursday. “You don’t see what’s going on in the world, and you guys are sitting there with a 47% tax increase. It’s crazy.”

The @jcps_district Board of Education will meet to discuss whether to pass an initial budget for discussion. We sent the attached to trustees. Our statement: “The initial, proposed budget from Superintendent Walker is both courageous and reasonable. It takes seriously... (1/3) pic.twitter.com/53GmaNCODW